Madonna Reveals New Details About Her 2023 Sepsis Hospitalization

In the September 29th episode of the On Purpose podcast with Jay Shetty, pop icon Madonna shared new, never-before-told details about the serious health crisis that forced her to pause her Celebration tour.

The singer revealed that in 2023, while rehearsing for the tour, she suddenly developed a bacterial infection that led to sepsis. “One minute I was alive and dancing around, and the next minute I was in the ICU. I was unconscious for four days before I woke up,” she recalled.

Previously, Madonna had shared that she was placed in an induced coma for 48 hours, but this time she clarified that her condition was much more prolonged and dangerous. “They eventually took me off the ventilator so I could breathe on my own. I had sepsis—something that can kill you,” she said.

During the conversation, she used the experience to illustrate her practice of “radical acceptance.” “I always thought of myself as superwoman, like I could overcome anything. But when I was bedridden with no strength, I had to learn to accept what was happening and that I didn’t know when it would end. The moment I accepted it, I started to heal faster.”

In July 2024, Madonna marked the one-year anniversary of her survival with a now-deleted Instagram post: “I made a miraculous recovery and had an amazing year. Thank you, God. Life is beautiful.”